Frederick g



(No Model.)

F. G. GORNING.

SAND BOX.

No. 451,457. Patented May 5,1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT DEEICE.

FREDERICK G. CGRNING, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

SAN D-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 451,457, dated May 5, 1891.

Application filed February 4, 1891. Serial No. 380,219. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK G. CORN- ING, a citizen of the United States,`residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sand-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to sand-boxes applicable to street or other railways for promoting traction of motor-driven cars, or motors, or horse-cars requiringa sanded track to render the brakes effectual.

The invention is designed to deliver the sand automatically in a measured quantity, whetherin a dry condition or in a slightly damp or partially frozen condition, as frequently incident to its use upon street-cars.

My invention relates particularly to sandboxes provided with a wheel having perimetral buckets rotating Within the body of sand, so as to plow or cut into the same and deliver portions thereof to a suitable chute, said wheel in its position of rest serving to prevent th escape of sand.

As heretofore constructed, apparatus of the character above indicated has possessed the objectionable feature of crowding the sand and compressing any hard substances or caked portions therein that may gravitate between the movable parts, obstructing the same. This evil arises from a construction wherein the sand must pass between converging surfaces to reach the outlet, said surfaces or any portion thereof moving in the direction in which they converge. The wheels such as hitherto employed deliver the sand in co-operation with gravity, so that any hard substances or pieces of gravel occasionally occurring naturally gravitate to the lowest point and clog the mechanism.

My invention consists in providing a delivering-wheel upon a horizontal axis at the bottom of the box, designed to be rotated in a given direction, that portion which ascends being exposed to the sand and that portion which descends being separated therefromthat is to say, the impinging surface of the wheel and the free surface thereof are on opposite sides of a vertical planeintersecting its axis. A motion is thus obtained in actual opposition to gravity; and, moreover, the

edges of the buckets being' upturned in a conrmon direction angular to the radius of the wheel form pockets which catch and receive any hard substances or gravel occurring in the sand, as aforesaid, and when such pockets pass to the point of delivery at the uppermost portion of the wheel the bodies, settling into the bottoms of the pockets, will not obstruct the outward passage of the blades.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of my improved sand-box; Fig. 2, a plan view thereof, and Fig. 3 a vertical sectional elevation illustrating a form of apparatus hitherto employed upon which my invention is designed as an improvement.

H represents the hopper or sand-box that may be attached to the floor of a street-car and filled with the desired quantity of sand.

H is a cylindric portion of the box for the reception of the wheel, and .l a chute conducting to a point vertically above the track-rail adjacent the truck-wheel indicated by the circle O. The plowing-wheel K is of a breadth substantially equal to that of the hopper H, as seen in Fig. 2. The wheel K is propelled by its shaft c., that may be driven from any suitable source of hand or power appliance.

The blades 7s, forming buckets between them, may be constructed in any suitable form, radial to the wheel or otherwise; but for the purpose of promoting the intended application of my invention I provide lips or flanges 7.9 at the extremities of the blades 7s, projecting at angles to the radii of the wheel, disposed upwardly in opposition to the direction in which the sand gravitates. The plowing or cutting surfaces formed by the blades 7a are thereby rendered more effectual when the intended direction of rotation is imparted. The portion of the cylindric case H opposite the free side of the wheel K is enlarged at 7L to form a part of the chute, within which the sand is released and directed to the trackrail. The portions of the wheel K interior and exterior to the hopper H are separated circumferentially by the confining-surfaces t' in the throat of the box parallel to the circumference of the wheel, said surfaces having a length equal to at least one intervalbetween the blades 7c. The escape of the sand when the wheel is at rest is thus prevented.

A spur or plowing edge is provided to the wall of the hopper adjacent the outward moving portion of the wheel. This spur tends to lift the surplus of sand from the blades as they pass out or to break up any lumps that may be carried toward the outlet.

In operation it will be seen that a general tendency of the device will exist to counteract the crowding effect of gravity, and to break up, rather than compress, any congealed portions of sand, and that the pebbles or solidified portions are caught by the pockets inthe perimeter of the wheel, as indicated at af, and passed under the spur j of the outlet by reason of their own gravity upon the upper portion of the circumference of the wheel exposed to the sand.

In the device heretofore employed (indicated in Fig. 3) it will be seen that the outlet j' is located at the lowest point in the circumference of the wheel and that the entire upper half of the circumference above the plane m fn is exposed to the body of sand. In whichever direction, therefore, the wheel so located is rotated the sand is compressed between the converging surfaces b and c at either side of the box, and solid substances, as indicated at ce', will clog and prevent the movement.

The essential feature of distinction between my improvement and the former device thus referred to and illustrated consists, therefore, in limiting the portion of the wheel exposed to the body of sand to the semieireumference or any fractional portion thereof upon one side of a vertical plane o p, intersecting the axis of the wheel, or, in other words, loeating the point of exit at substantially the uppermost portion of the wheel.

I do not claim as my invention a hopper provided with a bucketed wheel rotating upon a horizontal axis and having its entire upper seniicircumference exposed to the gravitating body of sand, and thereby constructed to impinge upon the sand throughout the entire portion of its circumference above a horizontal plane intersecting its axis; but

Vhat I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A sand-box provided with an outlet, and a rotary bucketed wheel interceptin g the outlet, exposed to the sand at that portion of its circumference at one side of a vertical plane intersecting the horizontal axis of the wheel.

2. The combination, with a sand-box, an outlet thereof, of a rotary bucketed wheel upon a horizontal axis intercepting the outlet, exposed to the sand at a portion of its circumference at one side of a vertical plane intersecting its axis, and at the other side of said vertical plane a chute for receiving and conveying the sand to the point of delivery.

The combination, with a sand-box, of a rotary bucketed wheel upon a horizontal axis at the outlet thereof, having portions of its circumference interior and exterior to the box, that are respectively included between points at different levels in the said circumference, and said interior portion of the eireumference rotating upward.

4. The combination, with a sand-box, of a rotary wheel on a horizontal axis at the outlet thereof having portions of its circumference interior and exterior to the box, that are included between points located at different levels in the said circumference, and contining-surfaces t' in the case that contains the wheel, including one or more spaces between the buckets, as described, to prevent. the exit of the sand when the wheel is at rest.

FREDERICK G. GORNING.

Witnesses.

M. J. SPENCER, WILLs VAN VALKENBURGH. 

